God of War: Ghost of Sparta
Preview
Another excuse to go wild with the Blades of Chaos
by Joseph Barron
previewed on PSP
Lost city of Atlantis
With the release of God of War III earlier this year on the PlayStation 3, Sony’s epic Ancient Greek saga finally came to a stunning conclusion. But gamers everywhere are still eager for more tales of Kratos and more of the famously visceral and bloody combat. God of War: Ghost of Sparta for PSP looks to fill in more of the sweeping narrative and give fans another excuse to go wild with the Blades of Chaos.
Ghost of Sparta takes place between God of War and God of War II, while Kratos is still serving the Olympians as the God of War. Players will get to experience Kratos’ first tasks in his new role and wield enormous power, all while discovering more about the vengeful anti-hero’s origins and back-story. You will be able to discover the lost city of Atlantis for the first time and face great new enemies and bosses, such as King Midas and Scylla; the legendary, mythical sea monster.
Bigger and better
The game is being developed by Ready at Dawn Studios, the same team that produced the previous massive hit for the God of War franchise on PSP, Chains of Olympus. Clearly, this developer has already set the quality bar extremely high for PSP action games and surpassing the previous title will be no small feat. However, Ghost of Sparta already looks mightily impressive visually, with graphics at least as detailed, if not more so, than other big hitters on PSP, such as Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Players can also expect similar controls to Chains of Olympus in the new game. Getting button layouts right for PSP has always been a huge development challenge, but Ready at Dawn has done a great job with their previous PSP titles. So you can expect easy to pick up gameplay, with a little less of that notorious PSP hand cramp!
Of course, as with any sequel in the God of War series, we’re all expecting bigger and better things from Ghost of Sparta. Sony promised new weapons, new magical powers and even some new never-before-seen acrobatic moves to help Kratos navigate the new environments. God of War III on PS3 had some terrific flying sequences and with the new game taking place at least partly in the lost city of Atlantis, we may see some similarly spectacular underwater or swimming sections. Sony have also claimed that the game will feature 25 percent more gameplay than Chains of Olympus, so players should expect to have a longer experience this time around on PSP, with more enemies on screen at one time and more boss battles.
In terms of the combat mechanics, you can certainly expect the traditional combo-based systems from previous God of War titles, including close-up and ranged weapons, as well as unlockable combos, weapon upgrades and magic abilities. As with every new entry in the series, Kratos’ arsenal will once again be expanding. New tools of destruction include a shield which can be used to defend attacks with more success and a spear which will pierce straight threw enemies. Here’s hoping it can be used to skewer multiple opponents into a tasty Greek corpse kebab!
Bloodthirsty fashion
So far, it definitely seems that God of War: Ghost of Sparta will be another bone-crunching adventure through the God of War universe, with the familiar combat that fans love, albeit with a few new twists and turns along the way. Gamers hungry for more bloodcurdling action after completing God of War III will find just as much entertainment here when the game is released in November this year. Ready at Dawn have already proven that they can bring the intensity and excitement of the console God of War games to the PSP and they look set to achieve that again, in typical bloodthirsty fashion, with God of War: Ghost of Sparta.
